Statement from Rashad Robinson, Executive Director of ColorOfChange.org, on today's Verizon v. FCC ruling striking down the FCC's Open Internet Order

January 14, 2014

New York, NY — Today's ruling striking down the FCC's Open Internet Order is a serious blow to the millions of Americans who count on the free and open Internet to go about the essentials of our daily lives. Because the court has given Internet service providers the green light to start openly discriminating against web content they don't want to compete with, the Internet could very soon start looking like cable TV, where one corporation holds the power to decide which content we're able to access.

Black folks' ability to be heard is now in real danger. Our communities rely on the Internet to speak without a corporate filter, to access information and connect to the world, and to be able to organize and hold public officials and corporations accountable. Without decisive action by the FCC, just a handful of major corporations will control which voices are heard most easily — and which may never get heard at all.

We urge FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler to take immediate steps to assert the agency's authority to rein in ISPs' anti-competitive, anti-democratic behavior, by reversing the Bush-era rule that largely deregulated broadband and set the agency on the long path to today's ruling. We look forward to working with Chairman Wheeler in the coming months to ensure he understands the critical importance for our communities of preserving access to a free and open Internet.

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With more than 900,000 members, ColorOfChange.org is the nation’s largest online civil rights organization.